


forgiveness

by desolate_dinosaur



Category: Eleceed (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28448091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desolate_dinosaur/pseuds/desolate_dinosaur
Summary: Forgiving yourself is one of the steps to moving on. Wooin hasn't done that yet.
Relationships: Wooin & Awakened Cat, Wooin & Dr. Delein
Kudos: 12





	forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> This is set during episode 66 in the last panel, where Jiwoo, Wooin, Jisuk, and Subin were having a sleepover.

It was night. Maybe dawn. The time is nearly 5 AM even though the sun hasn’t risen yet, though, as Wooin checked his phone.

Jiwoo’s living room was a mess. Speaking of Jiwoo, he and Jisuk were sleeping on the same couch in such an uncomfortable position. There was no doubt that their backs were going to hurt when they woke up. On a related note, Wooin’s back hurts from curling up inside his jacket all night for warmth. Subin was the only one who was sleeping in a comfortable position, but even then, her neck is going to hurt.

The mess was going to be unpleasant to walk through so Wooin decided to clean up first before the others woke up.

As he was cleaning up, only now did Wooin realized how many cats Jiwoo owns. The black-striped, gray cat, also known as the awakened cat, was wide awake and was staring at Wooin.

Wooin frowns, remembering the bad memories that happened back before Dr. Delein was imprisoned by the Union. Thinking about it more, the awakened cat reminds Wooin of the first cat that he had helped experiment on.

* * *

_ “Take care of this,” Dr. Delein says coldly, before shoving (nearly throwing) something into Wooin’s tiny arms. Wooin looked down and the object that Dr. Delein threw at him was soft, gray, and looked like a ball, except it was breathing and it hisses. Then a head popped up, scared eyes staring up at him. “It’s a cat. Make sure to feed it well. There’s cat food in the closet,” was all Dr. Delein said before heading down to the basement. Wooin was never allowed in the basement. He looks back down on the kitten and it hisses again, scratching his arms. _

_ Wooin lets the kitten down, understanding what it’s like to be in an unrecognizable place. He understood this very well. The kitten was quick to run off into some corner. Wooin stands up, trying to find the cat food that Dr. Delein was talking about. It seems like Dr. Delein used to have cats before because some of the cat food bags were opened before. There was even some dog food as well and several metal bowls. _

_ The boy grabbed two metal bowls: one for food, another for water. He placed them in front of the shaking kitten, who was trying to hide, and poured the bag of cat food into a metal bowl. Next, he took the other metal bowl, filling it up with water, and placed it back on the floor. _

_ The kitten was hesitant to eat the food but out of desperation, they eventually gave in. _

_ It wasn’t long before the kitten and Wooin grew attached to each other. _

* * *

_ “Hey, where’s Chingu?” Wooin asked, curiously, looking around the house. He recently just got back home from school. _

_ Dr. Delein looked confused at first before chuckling. “Oh, you mean that rat looking cat?!” he asked, smiling. “I wanted to talk about that. You’re going to finally help me in the basement now that you are 10 years old!” Wooin was curious to know what Dr. Delein does in the basement and follows closely behind him. The basement was much darker than the living room. Dr. Delein continues talking. “I haven’t done much experimenting since I had to stay low from trackers so we only have one cat to experiment on and it’s a healthy one! Wooin, you took good care of them very well!” _

_ One cat? Experiment? Take good care? _

_ Wooin’s eyes slowly widened as he pieced the puzzle pieces together. When they finally reached the basement, lo and behold, the gray tabby cat that Wooin had been taking care of for a year was stuck in a cage, shaking like when they first met. When their eyes meet, the gray tabby cat meows, as if asking for help. _

_ “Because of your hard work, you get to help me experiment on this rat-looking cat!” Dr. Delein says, looking somewhat excited. He pulls a sheet of white cloth off of a tray, revealing tons of syringes, drugs, and all sorts lying on the tray. _

_ Wooin suddenly felt sick. Almost as if he was about to throw up. He glances at Chingu, wanting to save them from this upcoming torture. Wooin can’t do anything though. He owed his life to Dr. Delein for saving him. _

* * *

_ The cat died. _

_ Dr. Delein rubs his eyebrows, sighing. He wasn’t used to children crying. “Don’t worry, Wooin. There’ll be even more successful experiments in the future,” he says, as if that would cheer up Wooin. “I should’ve expected this since it’s been a year and I’m a little rusty…” _

_ Wooin was still silently crying, trying to stop himself. If he cried anymore, Dr. Delein would get frustrated and take his anger out on Wooin. It was hard to stop though. _

_ Chingu’s body was cold in Wooin’s hands. The cat died too quickly because of the pain. They weren’t used to it because they lived most of their life being well taken care of. _

_ “Bury the body in the backyard or something,” Dr. Delein says, putting on a jacket. He was about to head outside. “I’m gonna find some more animals so prepare the basement after you do that.” Wooin automatically brought a hand up to his mouth. He couldn’t handle more animals being tortured because of him. It was hard to swallow down the saliva that was building up in his throat. _

_ Wooin shakily stands up, picking up the corpse, and heading to the backyard. “Rest well, friend,” he mumbles, covering the corpse up with dirt. _

* * *

What a coincidence that the first and the last animal he experimented on looked so alike. Almost like a replica of each other.

It was actually hard to sleep in Jiwoo’s house when every night he would have nightmares from the old days when he helped experimented on animals. It was because of the awakened cat that reminded him every night. Wooin was glad that the awakened cat had found a better owner to take care of them. Knowing Jiwoo, he was a better cat owner than Wooin was. Jiwoo has always protected stray cats his entire life. Wooin hurted them.

“I’m sorry,” Wooin mumbles, glancing at the awakened cat, “for harming you.”

The awakened cat stares, before slowly blinking at Wooin, as if they understood what he said, and for the first time, Wooin felt that heaviness being slowly lifted up.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been struggling trying to figure out what that couch without a back thingy was and it took me a while to find out that it’s actually called an ottoman. Also, “chingu” means friend in Korean and apparently you use it for people of the same age. I’m not actually sure though because I’m not Korean and I saw this on a website but I didn’t want to name the cat “Stormy,” though I was tempted. It sounds out of place, unfortunately.
> 
> I know I posted a fanfic somewhere around four hours ago, not sure the exact time, but my New Year's resolution was to write 60 short stories and I've only completed half of that goal. So, I'm trying to write a short story in a span of an hour or less.


End file.
